Japanese Charts: Layton Holds Onto Lead As Fallout 3 Hits

Despite a lack of major new releases, the Japanese sales chart has largely maintained its momentum this week, with continued strong sales across the board. The third in the Professor Layton series for the Nintendo DS remained at number one, but retained the position with only 87,000 unit sales. The highest new entry of the week was Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World from Namco Bandai. The latest in a long line of anime licensed, one-on-one beat ‘em-ups for the PlayStation 2, the game debuted with 76,000 units sold. The relative lack of high-profile new releases has allowed older Nintendo DS titles to fill the void, with Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode, Pokemon Platinum and what will be known in the West as Rhythm Heaven all re-entering the top 10. The second highest new entry of the week is Sega’s 428: Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de for the Wii. Developed by ChunSoft, the visual novel is only the ninth game to receive a perfect 40/40 score from respected Japanese print magazine Famitsu. It debuted at number eight with 34,000 unit sales. Coming in only just behind, at number nine, is the Xbox 360 version of Bethesda’s Fallout 3. Selling 31,000 units, the Western style action role-playing game has performed similarly to Gears of War and Bethesda’s own Oblivion in its first week. Even greater sales might have been expected of the PlayStation 3 version, due to its higher installed userbase in Japan, but it is not released until January. Outside the top 10 the highest new entry is Konami baseball simulator Pro Yakyuu Spirits 5 for PlayStation 2 at number 16, with the PlayStation 3 version at number 20. Volume 3 of D3’s series of Neon Genesis Evangelion themed pachinko simulators appears at number 25 on DS, while a new DS title based on anime Reborn! debuts at number 28.

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